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Cubs Minor League Daily: Tuesday Viewings, and An Early, Concerning Exit for Cease

Your non-exhibition baseball viewing options today are somewhat limited. Very limited, in fact. Tennessee is your only option. Most minor league teams take All-Star Day off, and this barren schedule is the result.

The good news is that Tennessee is at home, so there will be a video feed. The bad news is that Tennessee does not have a very good video feed. The good news is that they have a very good broadcast crew, so it will at least be good listening.

On the mound for the Smokies will be the rehabbing Clayton Richard. Interestingly, in his last two rehab appearances he has been used as a starter. He pitched 4 innings and 62 pitches for Iowa on July 3, and then pitched 4.2 innings and 61 pitches for Tennessee on July 8. He is basically pitching on five days rest (as if he were a starter), and I expect he will again throw at least 60 pitches (maybe more). It certainly appears that the Cubs are taking advantage of the blister-induced DL trip to try stretch Richard back out into a potential starter.

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Here’s the fun part: in the 8.2 innings that the Cubs have perhaps been stretching him out, he allowed just one run on four hits and two walks while striking out seven. Sure, these are minor league players he is getting out, but those numbers are consistent with the work he did as a minor league starter in 2015. In 2015 he also made it to Chicago and compiled an ERA/FIP/xFIP of 3.83/3.58/3.43 over 42.1 innings.

Are the Cubs stretching out Richard for future use as a starter? Are they doing it to allow him more innings to adjust back to what worked for him last year? We may get more clues tonight in Tennessee.

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And now for the scary part of the column. Dylan Cease left his Eugene start early, and it appears to be injury related. Per the radio crew at the time, it might have been pitching arm injury related. There are no hard facts out there right now, though, only what was said at the time. We’ll update when we know more. When he was on the mound, though, he looked pretty good.

Cease has been pulled from the game after being looked at by the trainer. No update as to what cause at this time.

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